Christopher J White

Denis Belitsky / shutterstock

November 14, 2023

This is the world’s hottest autumn on record – and it’s impacting the climate system and human society

Scott McGrane, University of Strathclyde and Christopher J White, University of Strathclyde

Relative to the long-term average, this autumn has been even hotter than summer.

The latest climate change assessment by scientists is a ‘code red for humanity’, according to the UN. Toa55/Shutterstock

September 23, 2021

Have climate change predictions matched reality? Podcast

Daniel Merino, The Conversation and Gemma Ware, The Conversation

How scientists are improving their understanding of the connection between extremes and climate change – and what’s to come. Listen to The Conversation Weekly.

EPA-EFE/Vassilis Psomas

July 30, 2021

How summer 2021 has changed our understanding of extreme weather

Christopher J White, University of Strathclyde

Scientists tend to study heatwaves and floods as discrete events – but this overlooks the crucial connections between them.

LuYago/Shutterstock

September 8, 2020

Arctic warming: are record temperatures and fires arriving earlier than scientists predicted?

Christopher J White, University of Strathclyde

The high temperatures and wildfires of 2019 were thought to have heralded a freak summer for the Arctic. Then 2020 brought worse.

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January 8, 2020

Climate change: COP26 Glasgow will provide world stage for Scotland’s green innovation

Christopher J White, University of Strathclyde ; Francesco Sindico, University of Strathclyde , and Keith Bell, University of Strathclyde

The UN’s climate change conference is coming to the UK this year, and former industrial powerhouse Glasgow is just the city to demonstrate its environmental commitment.

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December 6, 2019

Flash flooding is a serious threat in the UK – here’s how scientists are tackling its prediction

Christopher J White, University of Strathclyde ; Laura Kelly, University of Strathclyde , and Linda Speight, University of Reading

Alerting people to the threat of surface water flooding is still in its infancy, but a new review reveals a combination of prediction modelling and weather watching aims to help affected communities.

It’s important to get the research across to and understood by decision-makers. Shutterstock/Rawpixel.com

January 31, 2017

Listen up: a plan to help scientists get their research heard by decision‑makers

Mark Quigley, The University of Melbourne; Adrien Ickowicz, CSIRO; Antonio Verdejo-Garcia, Monash University; Ben Galton-Fenzi, Australian Antarctic Division; Christopher J White, University of Tasmania; Gery Geenens, UNSW ; Keith Gerard Pembleton, University of Southern Queensland; Kirsty Kitto, Queensland University of Technology; Kyra Hamilton, Griffith University; Luke Bennetts, University of Adelaide; Madhura Killedar, Monash University; Mark Lindsay, The University of Western Australia; Melanie Roberts, The University of Melbourne; Patricia Durance, Monash University, and Petra Kuhnert, CSIRO

Research comes with risk and uncertainty so getting the right message across to the people who matter can be a challenge for scientists. A new plan out today hopes to change that.

A large thunderstorm rolls over Sydney in 2015. AAP Image/Newzulu/Haig Gilchrist

November 14, 2016

To understand how storms batter Australia, we need a fresh deluge of data

Christopher J White, University of Tasmania; Jason Evans, UNSW , and Kevin Walsh, The University of Melbourne

Severe storms bring a complex mixture of weather conditions, often in a very localised area. This unpredictability can make them very damaging, and very hard to study too.

More heatwaves in store, but the exact effects on people are harder to predict. AAP Image/Joe Castro

November 9, 2016

We’ve learned a lot about heatwaves, but we’re still just warming up

Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick, UNSW and Christopher J White, University of Tasmania

Heatwaves are Australia’s deadliest type of natural disaster. But while we know a lot about the weather patterns behind them, more research is needed to forecast accurately their impacts on people.

Knowing when and where this is going to happen would be useful. AAP Image/Dan Peled

November 7, 2016

Planning for a rainy day: there’s still lots to learn about Australia’s flood patterns

Fiona Johnson, UNSW ; Christopher J White, University of Tasmania, and Seth Westra, University of Adelaide

Floods are a costly part of Australian life, which means we need to get better at predicting exactly when - and how severely - they are likely to strike in the future.

Huge swathes of Tasmania have burned this year. Warren Frey/Tasmania Fire Service

September 15, 2016

After Tasmania’s year of disasters, bushfire tops the state’s growing list of natural hazards

Christopher J White, University of Tasmania; Alexei Trundle, The University of Melbourne; Darryn McEvoy, RMIT University; Stuart Corney, University of Tasmania, and Tomas Remenyi, University of Tasmania

A comprehensive analysis of Tasmania’s natural disaster risks has identified bushfire as the biggest threat, alongside emerging issues such as disease epidemics and heatwaves.

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